Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1887-11-12
PIGS EoR LIE EARM.
Diversified Feeding the Secret Of Success
Pork-~p Production.

/ Fashions are exceedingly Changea-
able, and although it is ridiculous alb
Surdity, Yet it is a truth that there are
fashions in pork. Years ago the public
wanted clear mess, ami pieces eight
| inches thick of clear fat with a mere
shadow of lean adjoining the bones
was considered the most desirable
thing in pork. Now this extreme fat is
unpopular and thin meat with alter
| nate StreakS of lean and fat is faShiona.
bic. As pork is made from pigs,
necessarily the fashion has changed in
regard TO pigs, and the heavy, gross,
~fat-haking breeds are in disfator.
This fashion, curiously enough, came
to us from England, where hitherto the
| public taste has demanded extremely
fat meat, mutton chops with ''three
fingers of fat sirloins with six or eight
inches of fat on the under side. and
| bacon with the merest Strcaks Of lean
in six inches of fat, TO furnish this fat
meat enormous sheep reaching a ma
uirc weight eff 800 onearly 400 pounds;
two-year-old beef. "baby beef" as it
was called, weighing 1880 to 1000
pounds, and having exceedingly soft,
habby flesh, and fat strongly tasting of
the oil cakes of which it was made, and
the great Yorkshire and Cheshire
swine, which could be could be fed up
to 700 or 800 pounds at three years old.
And in a servi!c habit of initiating
English ways and fashions, American
breeders tried 80 make us feed upon
fat, but failed in he attempt, And now
the Jersey red, the Poland China and
he big Yorkshire swine are not popu-
lar, and the Berkshire and other
smaller kinds whose meat is half lean
mixed in alternate layers with the
fat, and which are not so highly fed
and are given more time to mature
have taken the place in public estima-
ton, formerly held by the largcrbreeds.
OF course, those whose business is to
supply the public with meat must cater
to the public tastes and conform to
their wishes. Hence, breeders and
feeders need to study the characters of
the best breeds thai are most suitable
for their purpose. and not only this,
but especially the Lest methods of feed
ing for meat, for IS corn is the mater
ial of which fat alone is made, some
other food must be used 10 make lean
meat.
The Berkshire is the best bacon hog
in existence. 1t has been largely used
in refining the grosSness of the Poland
China, and its jet black coat is now
worn by this useful breed in place of
the former spotted ne. The blue
black or slaty Neapolitan has been used
to refine the Berkshire, but we believe
this shade in the latter indicates weak
ness of constitution, although it gives
the thin lean meat. and we prefer the
glossy black rathcrcoarse hair than the
slaty blue thin spare coat of the Ncap-
olitan.
The black breeds are certainly the
most desirable pig, because they with
stand the scorching sun of our hot
summers, and ,hey alone escape sun
scald in the South. Of the white
breeds the large Yorkshire, when mod
cratcly fed and grazcd in the summers,
the Chcshires and the Chester White,
are excellent for making good meat.
The small breeds are, we think, toe
much given to fat, and are not SO prof,
liable as the larger kinds. The small
Yorkshires have been fed for fa'
so long during the period Of
their so-called Improvement thai
they are nothing if not ;
ball of fat in which the short, up
turned snout is SO buried as to b,
nearly invisible. These Short-ncckcC
pigs, without II iowl worthy of speak
ing Of, are clearly not profitable under
the present fashion, and need to b,
improved in precisely the reverse o
the ann prevailing hitherto witt
their breeders.
But the feeding, after all, makes tn,
pig, and our prevailing mode of feed
inc must be changed from corn t.
grass largely and other grains THAI
that too highly carbonaceous food
Bran, oatmeal, upngels, and evel
clover hay, all heterogeneous aud flesh
making foods, must be used to max
flesh, and corr should he reduced t
o%ne-fourth its present quantity. 1t i
a curious fact hat the substitution @
~cottonSccd oil for lard has had niue
to do with the recent change in the de
mand for pork and the desire for thin
ncr meat than heretofore. Lard hog
, are certainly at presoLl, and poSsibl
l forever, displaced by the %cottonseed o
press; hence the big PIGS of 600 or 40
pounds, so per cent. of which went ,
the lard kettles, are now useless. Cor
hereafter will probably be less used fu
' making pork, and this will lead to tn
very desirable result of avoiding niue
q of the disease which has hitherto pr,
, vailed among the nerds. With NOR
q diversified feeding and more nitrogc
4 in proportion to the carbon of tn
food the feeding will be more healthfl
| and profitable, and special crops, ,
which clover, mangels, and beets q
D turnips will be grown for this use, {
t the very great advantage OF the Ian
, and the farmers rs wcll.-M J. Time.
PERMANENT INKS.
Why Manufacturer should State the Con
position of Their Goods.
=, Ink-making has now become quite
high chemical art, and there so man
kinds of ink in the market that's choic
is rather puzzling. 1t is very desirabI
that manufacturers should state I'll
composition of their inks. e., of III
y coloring matter which they contain
u This might be done without bctrayin
any trade secrets. We could the
choose our ink according to its purpos,
: For documents of a permanent cha,
. acter, and subject to the possibilit
/.